Saturday, 11 July 2009

Wapping mine/Cumberland Cavern, Jugholes and Carlswark Cavern

This trip was arranged for new member Tony to give him a taster of what caving is about. We started with a nice simple mine called Wapping Mine which is basically a walk about with a small amount of climbing which leads you up into Cumberland Cavern. From here we moved on to Jug Holes mine which proved somewhat of a challenge to get to as they have blocked off Salters Lane at the Matlock end, so if you intend to visit Jug Holes don’t approach from the Matlock side of Salters lane. This was a little more challenging for Tony as we used the shaft to abseil into the mine and there was a bit more climbing and squeezing involved. From here we drove to Carlswark Cavern and did the short through trip by going in via Eyam shaft and coming out of the Gin entrance. The water levels in Carlswark were the lowest I had ever seen them (much to my disappointment).